The premise of “automation” (versus automatic actions)

Many tools can do things automatically. But all of the following tools are focused on automation, that is, automatically doing many things for you and not only a single task.

Automation may have a learning curve, but the ultimate result will make up for it!

Zapier or IFTTT

No conversation about automation is complete without mentioning either Zapier or IFTTT (If This Then That). Both services will monitor a myriad of sources and trigger actions based on customizable criteria.

Write a series of emails to automatically send every week for a year. Then, every new subscriber starts at the beginning and never misses the same great content everyone else gets.

Automatically send an email to a subscriber based on their activity on your site (or lack thereof). This can get them more engaged or connect them with other stuff they wanted.

Automatically segment your subscribers based on almost any criteria. With that, you can ensure only the right people receive the right messages.

Automatically deliver special offers or resources you give away.

Here are my favorite email service providers, and what I would recommend them for.

ActiveCampaign: This is my new favorite email service provider! ActiveCampaign makes powerful automations easy. Plus, it has website activity-tracker unmatched by anyone else! I haven't found anything other platforms do that ActiveCampaign can't do better.

ConvertKit: This is the cool new kid on the block. ConvertKit simplifies automations with a single list.

Aweber: This may be the industry-standard tool for email newsletters and autoresponders. Their reputation and delivery is high, and they provide fantastic support.

MailChimp: Get started for free with an email list up to 2,000 subscribers or 12,000 emails a month. I think MailChimp is the easiest-to-use provider and offers simple automation options (though it seems more is coming).

I don't think podcast audio has a “viral” problem, but there are times you may want to share a snippet of great value from your podcast. Putting this in video makes it available to and stand out more on visual platforms, like Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Wavve automates this process by allowing you to create a template for your videos, and then uploading your audio clip to be processed and applied to the template. You can even have multiple templates, ideal for different platforms (such as square video for Instagram)!

Audiogram works in much the same fashion allowing you choose an audio clip from an episode you've already published or upload it. You can then change the font, background image and visualisation style to suit your needs and brand.

I rarely recommend automating content on social networks, but automating a schedule (especially a recurring schedule) can be a great way to save you time and better engage with your followers!

Social Jukebox is a bit more affordable and has a better system for scheduling recurring messages, and Edgar is a bit easier to use with a simpler interface and RSS-based queue.

Here are some examples of queue-based social automations you can do with either Social Jukebox or Edgar on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and someday more:

Automatically post leading up to, and during regularly scheduled events, such as a live-stream.

Automatically reshare old but timeless content, such as blog posts, podcast episodes, and guest appearances

Automatically start conversations by engaging your community with questions.

Automatically and regularly promote monetized content.

I urge you to custom-write your messages, so they're personal. Also, I recommend you set your schedule to no more than once per hour, but less frequently if you don't have a lot of content to share.

Buffer or Hootsuite

Whereas Social Jukebox and Edgar can spread out recurring sharing of timeless content, Buffer and Hootsuite are nice ways to automatically share, crosspost, and spread out sharing of new content.

Buffer and Hootsuite works on the idea of a one-time queue. You can load it up and the messages will post on your schedule, but they won't repeat unless you requeue them.

They're also handy for simply crossposting the same message on multiple accounts right at the moment.

Libsyn's OnPublish, Blubrry's Post to Social, or Repurpose

Speaking of crossposting, there are several tools that can do this as soon as you publish your own content.

Libsyn's OnPublish feature uses their feed to automatically crosspost your latest podcast episodes across many social and content platforms.

Blubrry's Post to Social feature can do the same thing from the PowerPress feed for Blubrry hosting customers. Blubrry's option can even truncate the audio and automatically add a trailer, such as saying, “To hear the rest of this episode, listen and subscribe at MyAwesomePodcast.com!”

Repurpose is a standalone service that, as its name suggests, repurposes your audio or video content from nearly any source (even Facebook Live!) and automatically reposts to other destinations.

Quuu

Created by my friend and fellow podcaster Craig Carpenter, Relay dramatically speeds up the creation of professional-looking, branded images for your blog or podcast. You can create a template, enter your text, and then Relay will automatically create the multiple sizes ideal for different social networks.

Designfeed

Designfeed is somewhat similar to Relay, but it automates the process of finding relevant images based on the text you insert.

Appointlet, Doodle, Calendly, or ScheduleOnce (and many more)

If you need to schedule anything with someone else, you probably know the frustration of finding a time that works for you. Even when you pick the right time, it takes extra work to remind and follow up.

That's where an online scheduling tool helps! Appointlet, Doodle, Calendly, and ScheduleOnce each have their unique features and they're all focused on making it easier to schedule time with someone else. Plus, they offer different types of automations, simplifying the process of reminders, followups, integrations with other tools, and more.

Google Alerts

It can be tough to stay on top of your industry, but Google Alerts makes that easy by finding and sending you relevant stuff from across the Web. This can be with simple keywords or advanced search queries (like excluding certain things).

Disclosure

This post may contain links to products or services with which I have an affiliate relationship and
may receive compensation from your actions through such links. However, I don't let that corrupt my perspective and I don't
recommend only affiliates.

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